Star Tribune
Minneapolis will require safety training for high-rise window washers — for the first time
For the first time, Minneapolis will require safety training for high-rise window washers — those workers hanging from dizzying heights to make a skyline shine.
On Tuesday, Mayor Jacob Frey signed the city’s first window-cleaning ordinance to the cheers of workers inside a union hall in northeast Minneapolis.
Starting Jan. 1, all window washers working higher than 24 feet without a ladder, unionized or not, will have to earn a certificate after training in equipment safety, first aid and crisis management.
While there are federal workplace safety rules for scaffolds and other tools of the trade, there are no regulations specific to window washers.
Why now?
The ordinance was spawned by Local 26 of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). About a year and a half ago, union members worked with Council Member Michael Rainville, who represents part of downtown, and with city staff to draft regulations modeled on those in New York City, Rainsville and union officials said.
The union had sought such an ordinance for two decades. A string of deaths rattled the small network of local window washers, culminating with the 2007 death of Fidel Sanchez-Flores. The former Marine was removing snow and ice from the IDS Center’s Crystal Court when a window broke and he fell to his death.
The deaths prompted SEIU to emphasize safety in its contract negotiations. In 2010, they succeeded in creating a state-registered apprentice program. In 2021, workers struck, demanding higher wages and a more robust safety training regimen, which they ultimately got. Minneapolis’ ordinance codifies those training requirements and applies them to all window washers in the city.
How many window washers?
About 45 unionized window washers are employed by three companies in the metro: Columbia Building Services, Final Touch and Apex North. SEIU officials estimate about an equal number of nonunion window washers work at any given time are employed by several other companies, or start their own firms.
Is it a good job?
Under the union’s current contract, entry-level apprentice window washers earn a minimum of $19 an hour, while journeymen receive an hourly minimum of $29.38.
Eric Crone, a high-rise window washer for Columbia who’s been on the job 15 years, said the work has its ups and downs.
His favorite part?
“Definitely the views and getting up early to see them. People who work downtown, they always want the corner office with the view, but my view is better than theirs every day.”
And his least favorite?
“Winds in excess of 25 miles per hour means we can’t work. And the wildlife up there sometimes … I’ve seen a guy get his head split open by a divebombing peregrine falcon.”
Two men are dead and one woman was injured in a shooting at a homeless encampment in south Minneapolis on Sunday afternoon, police said. It was the second shooting at a Minneapolis encampment this weekend.
At about 2:20 p.m. Sunday, police responded to a reported shooting in the 4400 block of Snelling Avenue near the railroad tracks at the small encampment between Snelling and Hiawatha avenues. At the scene, officers found two men with fatal gunshot wounds, said Sgt. Garrett Parten Minneapolis Police spokesman. Responders rendered aid, but both men died at the scene.
A woman was found at the scene with life-threatening injuries and was taken to a local hospital where she was being treated Sunday night, he said. Police have yet to say whether the three were living at the encampment.
Officers detained three people, who Parten said have since been released after police found they were not believed to be involved in the shooting. No suspects had been identified as of 6:30 p.m. Sunday.
The shooting is the second at a southside homeless encampment this weekend. One man died and two were critically injured early Saturday at an encampment shooting near E. 21st Street and 15th Avenue S. On Sunday, the man was identified as Deven Leonard Caston, 31, according to the Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office.
“We don’t know if there’s a connection between this homeless encampment shooting and the one that occurred yesterday,” Parten said on Sunday. “That is a consideration of the investigation. We can’t rule it out.”
Ward 12 Council Member Aurin Chowdhury, who represents the area and lives nearby, was at the site of the shooting Sunday afternoon. She said officials need information about what happened to better understand how to address situations like this long-term.
“This is an absolute tragedy, and this type of violence should never occur within our city,” she said. “It really makes me think about how we need to look at this more systemically and not just take a whack-a-mole approach and expect the problem to go away.
During Sunday’s Twitch stream, Walz and Ocasio-Cortez played Madden while discussing making homebuying more accessible, building affordable housing, eliminating student loan debt and raising the federal minimum wage.
After the match, Walz showed off his Sega skills in a round of “Crazy Taxi,” the Y2K-era racing game where gamers play as a taxi driver picking up passengers and taking them to their destination for cash.
Walz called himself a “first-generation gamer” and recalled playing “Crazy Taxi” when he bought a Sega Dreamcast. He also mentioned the Minnesota Star Tribune’s coverage of how his old game console was sold and ended up with a Plymouth resident, who still has it.
Afterward, Walz and Ocasio-Cortez watched a short clip of Trump denying on Rogan’s podcast that he lost the 2020 presidential election. Democrat Joe Biden won that year.
Ocasio-Cortez during the livestream also showed viewers her farm on the cozy, indie game Stardew Valley. Walz said the game reminded him of Minnesota: “You’ve got mining,” he said. “You’ve got agriculture. You’ve got snow.”
Before Walz headed out to a rally in Nevada, he pleaded with viewers to vote. More than 12,000 viewers tuned into the livestream on Ocasio-Cortez’s Twitch channel. More watched from Harris’ channel.
”Hey guys, they’re now scrambling and trying to call us Nazis and fascists,” said Alina Habba, one of Trump’s attorneys, who draped a sparkly ”MAGA” jacket over the lectern as she spoke. ”And you know what they’re claiming, guys? It’s very scary. They’re claiming we’re going to go after them and try and put them in jail. Well, ain’t that rich?”
Declared Hogan in his characteristic raspy growl: ”I don’t see no stinkin’ Nazis in here.”
Trump has denounced the four criminal indictments brought against him as politically motivated. He has ramped up his denunciations in recent weeks of ”enemies from within,” naming domestic political rivals, and suggested he would use the military to go after them. Harris, in turn, has called Trump a ”fascist.”
The arena was full hours before Trump was scheduled to speak. Outside the arena, the sidewalks were overflowing with Trump supporters in red ”Make America Great Again” hats. There was a heavy security presence. Streets were blocked off and access to Penn Station was restricted.
In the crowd was Philip D’Agostino, a longtime Trump backer from Queens, the borough where Trump grew up. The 64-year-old said it was appropriate for Trump to be speaking at a place bills itself as ”the world’s most famous arena.”
”It just goes to show ya that he has a bigger following of any man that has ever lived,” D’Agostino said.
